Honors Ambassador Bios

Lead Ambassadors

Christine is one of the lead Honors Ambassadors. She has completed a ten month product development co-op at Colgate-Palmolive as well as a research and development summer internship at PIM Brands. After graduating from NJIT in the spring, she hopes to continue to work in the consumer product industry. She also has been involved on campus working as a tutor for the Advising Success Center, an Honors Freshman Seminar TA, and the head editor of the 2014 Honors Freshmen Handbook. Her hobbies include cooking and writing fictional stories.

Lukas, from Emerson, NJ, is one of the lead Honors Ambassadors. He is currently interning at Quality Measures Reporting Services at the New Jersey Innovation Institute. He also recently completed an internship at Optum Technologies which is a UnitedHealth Group’s technology services company. In addition, Lukas has done research in the past on NJIT’s campus in the area of Social Matching Applications specializing in Match Notification research. Lukas plans to complete his Master’s degree at NJIT as part of the BS/MS program. He has been a counselor for the Freshman Honors retreat for the last three years. Beyond academics, Lukas spends most of his time with friends, exercising, playing soccer, and is also a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity.

Newark College of Engineering

Adam is continuing as an Honors Ambassador this year, a position he has held since freshman year. He has completed internships at Merck, Exxon Mobil, Shamrock Technology, and Johnson & Johnson. Adam has been involved in the NJIT Chapter of the American Institute of Technology. He enjoys to travel and ski in his free time.

Olivia is a returning Honors Ambassador. She is currently the event coordinator for the Society of Women Engineers, one of the project leads of the Light Cycle, a renewable energy source project she is working on through Engineers without Borders, and sophomore representative of the IEEE branch of NJIT. Last year she spent her spring break volunteering through Global Brigades to help host a medical clinic in an under-resourced community called Las Lajas in Panama. Olivia spent her summer working as a New Student Orientation Peer Leader as well as interning at ConEdison where she was able to experience the power industry first hand. Whenever she has some free time, Olivia likes to catch up on her shows or go running.
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Aayush has been an Honors Ambassador since his freshman year. He is currently an executive board member for NJIT’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers chapter and a research assistant in the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Nanotechnology Laboratory. Outside of campus, Aayush is an intern at Panasonic, volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club of Newark, and member of the Sigma Pi International Fraternity. His hobbies include playing/watching sports and listening to music.

Dhara has been an Ambassador since her sophomore year. On campus, she founded the Knit N’ Crochet Club at NJIT and is the vice president of the Honors Biomedical Engineering Society. Currently, she and her senior capstone team are working a mobile application, AudIQ, which provides people awareness of their auditory cues, such as pitch discrimination, sound localization, and speech-in-noise. Her hobbies include cooking, playing tennis, and reading manga.

Rachel serves as an Honors College Ambassador as well as an ambassador for the NJIT admissions office. She is the team manager for the SAE Baja racing team on campus, where she and her team build an offroad vehicle and race it in various dynamic events across the US. In addition, Rachel is a sister and the Public Relations Chair of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and was a counselor for the Honors Freshman Retreat in the summer. In her free time, Rachel enjoys finding new places to eat, biking, and playing tennis.

James is a Senior Civil Engineering Major involved both in the Honors Ambassadors program and undergraduate research at NJIT. He is a commuter who has been an Honors Ambassador since he was a freshman. He enjoys playing soccer and golf.

Ariana is a returning Honors Ambassador. She does undergraduate research, is the secretary for the Information Systems Club, a student ambassador for the American Chemical Society, and is part of American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She is also a first year chemistry tutor on campus and a mentor at 13th Avenue Elementary School for first through sixth graders here in Newark. In her spare time, she loves traveling, baking, reading, and watching movies.

Michelle is an Honors Student Ambassador and a member of the NJIT Jazz Band. She serves as President of Student Ambassadors, the NJIT section of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), and the NJIT section of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). She has had Industrial Engineering internships with B. Braun Medical, Nestlé USA, and Morton Salt.

Sruti is a returning Honors Ambassador. She is currently the Secretary for both Biomedical Engineering Society and Society of Natural Sciences, and Webmaster for the Association of Indian Students. Sruti currently wrote several successful grant proposals for her ocular drug delivery research, in which she is designing medical technology to reduce vascularization in the eye. She travelled to Panama during spring break through global brigades, an organization where students from across the world establish medical and dental clinics. During the summer, she recently founded her online graphic-design clothing company and hopes to continue to pursue her interest in business. Her hobbies include dancing (formerly for the Indian fusion team Rutgers “Ehsaas”), and singing.

Jonathan has been an Honors Ambassador since his freshman year. He aspires to become a surgeon because of his love of being hands on and building things (like his own x-ray machine). He is currently a member of the BioMedical Engineering Society, the Pre-Health Society, and the RHA Programming subcommittee at NJIT. In his free time he enjoys finding new places to eat, watching movies, and going skiing in the winter and boogie boarding in the summer. He also loves listening to modern rock music, traveling to new places, and learning about everything.

College of Science and Liberal Arts

Amy has been an Honors Ambassador since she was a freshman. She is currently a sister of the Delta Phi Epsilon international sorority and has been involved in high impact student organizations such as the Vector student newspaper and the Student Senate. Outside of campus, she has interned as a medical assistant at the Spine and Pain Institute of New York and volunteered as a medical missionary for the NJIT Global Brigades, where she helped to set up a mobile health clinic and pharmacy in San Carlos, Panama. Her hobbies include painting and photography.

Prasanna is a returning Honors Ambassador. She is currently a project assistant at the New Jersey Innovation Institute, managing editor of the Vector newspaper, Vice President of Engineers Without Borders, and Vice President of Circle K. Off campus, Prasanna is a medical intern at the ECHO clinic of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. This summer, Prasanna was a peer leader for New Student Orientation. When she’s not studying for exams or getting her lab swag on, Prasanna can be found running through Tiernan Alley, tending to her magical bamboo garden, or cooking gourmet vegan meals at GDS.

Besides being an Honors Ambassador, Stephie is currently Vice President of Project Dental All, a peer mentor in the ADHC Passing the Torch Mentoring Program, a brother of the co-ed service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega (APO), an active member of the Pre-Dental Society, and an active member of Korea Campus Crusade for Christ (KCCC). Stephie is also currently Captain of NJIT Saavan, the Indian fusion a’ cappella group on campus. In her free time, Stephie enjoys spending time with friends and family, singing, traveling, watching movies, and just being adventurous/spontaneous.

Alongside being an Albert Dorman Honors College Ambassador, Niharika is also a Coordinator of Interactive Diversity Activities at NJIT's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. She also does research on biochar filters under Dr. Meegoda's guidance. Her hobbies include dancing, writing and mentoring young children in spirituality and religion.

Shalini has served as an Honors College Ambassador since her freshman year. She is an out-of-state student from Sharon, MA. Shalini is the Public Relations officer for Pre-Health Society, Marketing Chair of Society of Natural Sciences, and Vice President of Public Relations for National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She conducts research in the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry at Rutgers NJMS, and is also a volunteer at University Hospital. Her hobbies include, dancing, eating, sleeping, and watching Netflix.

Abbas is an Honors Ambassador and is in the joint 7 year dental program with Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. He is in the executive boards for both the Pre-dental Society and Project Dental All. His hobbies include reading, cooking, and fishing.

Rashmi has been an Honors Ambassador since her freshman year. She is a co-founder and the Treasurer of NJIT HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) and the Secretary of NJIT Saavan (Hindi fusion A’Cappella group). Aside from aspiring to become a doctor, she also looks forward to completing a MBA degree during her gap year. In her free time, Rashmi enjoys playing chess, sketching, cooking, and watching movies.

Briana has been an Honors Ambassador since her freshman year. She serves as the President of NJIT’s Biology Society. She conducts research at the Language Behavior and Brain Imaging Lab, where she is working on creating a semi-automated method of identifying lesions in left-hemisphere stroke patients. Briana was also the Lead and Administrative Coordinator for the New Student Orientation program for the past two summers. She is currently a tutor at The Learning Center and a barista at Intrinsic Cafe, a bubble tea cafe near campus. In her free time, you can find her playing piano or eating eggs!

Assma is a new Honors Ambassador. She is the co-founder and Vice President of the NJIT Red Cross League (RCL). She conducts neurobiological research at the Federated Biology Department under Dr. Gal Haspel on the locomotion of a microscopic worm called C. elegans. Assma is also a peer mentor in the ADHC Passing the Torch Mentoring Program, a regular contributor to the ADHC Newsletter, and the head editor of the 2015 Honors Freshmen Handbook. In her free time, Assma enjoys watching a good movie, making clay figurines, and playing with her two feline friends.

Apoorva is a third year Biology major and STS minor striving to one day pursue a career as an Interventional Radiologist. She is one of four students who established Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) here at NJIT. She is also part of various societies and clubs such as NSCS and Nucleus. Being a pre-medicine student she also understands the value of “free time” so most days she enjoys picking up her camera, spending time with her family, and being a huge movie buff.

Ester is a transferred Honors student and has been an Honors Ambassador since her sophomore year. She also works in the Admissions office as a lead ambassador. She participated in the EXTREEMS-QED research program with the Math Department where she studied how to detect a submarine in shallow water, and in the Urban Teacher's Education Program at Rutgers, allowing her to graduate with a NJ secondary teacher certification. Ester loves crocheting, knitting, and sewing and belongs to a club here at NJIT that donates the pieces (Salvation Army/Hospital/School).

Ying Wu College of Computing

Shikha has been an Honors Ambassador since her freshman year. She is currently the captain of the NJIT Dance Team which falls under the Athletic Department. Being on the Dance Team, a member of the Honors College, and being actively involved in many clubs, Shikha maintains her 4.0 GPA in conjunction with taking Honors courses. She is part of the Women in Computing Society, Association of Machinery (ACM), ACM-W, and the HighlanderThon. She plans to do an internship as a Software Engineer this summer. Her hobbies include traveling, swimming, and dancing.

Priya is a returning Honors Ambassador who is majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Business. She is involved with many campus activities. She currently serves as the Layout Editor of the Honors College Newsletter, President of NSCS, and Secretary of the Women in Computing Society. She is also a huge advocate for closing the gender gap that exists in the tech field and therefore worked with the Girls Who Code Program this past summer. In addition, she also received an opportunity to attend a highly selective Blockchain and Cryptocurrency bootcamp at MIT where she learned about opportunities in this industry and worked on a project. After completing her undergraduate degree from NJIT, she hopes to attend graduate school to pursue a degree in Financial Engineering.

College of Architecture and Design

Michelle is a second year Architecture major in the 5 year Bachelor of Architecture program here at NJIT. Besides being an Honors Ambassador, is a member of Alpha Sigma Tau, AIAS Freedom by Design, and the Secretary of the Knitting n’ Crocheting Club. Each semester, they partner with a different organization in the Newark community and dedicate their time to a new charity project. This summer, she interned at Kerry Inc., working in Human Resource and Quality Control. Michelle also worked on campus for two weeks as a Teacher Assistant and Resident Assistant for a Pre-College Architecture Program. In her spare time, she enjoys catching up on shows and YouTube videos, traveling, shopping, and eating sushi!